Asia PR News

Hong Kong, Aug. 29 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ –

The Coca-Cola Company (Coca-Cola) has announced today the acquisition of a
controlling shareholding in Kerry Beverages Limited (KBL), its bottling joint
venture with the Kerry Group — a conglomerate based in Hong Kong. KBL was
formed by Coca-Cola and the Kerry Group in 1993, and has majority ownership in
11 joint ventures that manufacture and distribute products of The Coca-Cola
Company across 9 provinces in China. KBL also has a minority interest in the
joint venture bottler for Beijing. The transaction does not affect the local
shareholding structure of the bottlers in China.

With Kerry Group’s increasing focus on its core business areas — hotel
management, property development and logistics — Coca-Cola has increased its
equity ownership through this opportunity in bottling operations in China.
Coca-Cola believes that the relationship it has built with Kerry through its
joint venture over the past 14 years will continue to allow Coca-Cola to tap
into the wealth of experience and expertise Kerry has in China.

After the deal, Coca-Cola will hold 89.5% of KBL, and will have agreed to
purchase the remaining 10.5% interest by the end of 2008 at the same price per
share as the initial purchase plus interest. Coca-Cola will have all voting
and economic rights over the remaining shares. The other terms of the
transaction remain confidential.

"Our partnership with KBL over the past 14 years has allowed our business
in China to establish a strong foundation for continued growth," said Muhtar
Kent, President, Coca-Cola International. "We are also grateful to Kerry for
its future support of our long-term commitment to China and look forward to
continued cooperation," he concluded.

"It has been a productive and successful partnership with Coca-Cola. With
the change in the shareholding structure, we will be focusing on our core
business areas, while The Coca-Cola Company will continue to grow the thriving
operations in China." said Thomas Lui, Managing Director of KBL.

After the transaction, the Bottling Investments Group, Coca-Cola’s
dedicated function to manage its bottling operations, will lead the management
of KBL. The existing management team of KBL will continue to play a critical
role to ensure a smooth operation of the bottling operations.

For enquiries, please contact:

Coca-Cola China:
Ms Brenda Lee
Tel: +852-3195-5796

SOURCE The Coca-Cola Company